Fill colors and high contrast

[Philippeam]

Vista SP1. Excel 2007 (Excel 2003 compatibility mode). I juts (painfully)
discovered that if you use High Contrast the fill colors will not show in
one's Excel workbooks. It would be nice to have a warning! Any way to
resolve the issue?
Thanks

 

[Shane Devenshire]

Hi Philippeam,

I am not clear on what you mean by "High Contrast", however, if you are
applying colors form the 2007 color palette to a Excel 2003 file you will
loose the new capabilities when you are in 2003. Very simply put Excel 2003
supports 56 colors in the spreadsheet at one time while 2007 support 16
Million (I've heard different numbers on this.) When you apply colors from
Excel 2007 palette and save the file as a 2003 file Excel must convert the
colors to the 56 color palette, so there is a great lose of capability.

I get a warning when I save the 2003 file from within 2007. To turn this
option on choose Office Button, Prepare, Run Compatibility Checker, and
chick the box at the bottom left that says Check compatibility when saving
this workbook.

Cheers,
Shane Devenshire
Microsoft Excel MVP

 

[Philippeam]

Thanks for your answer. The high contrast is an option offered in the "ease
of access" options. I am not sure it is the same as the different palettes in
Excel 2007 versus 2003 but may be it is.

 

[Philippeam]

Going through the forum I found the answer; it is in KB833258. There does
not seem to be another solution than turning High Contrast off. And if there
is a warning that EXCEL fill colors will disappear if you chose the optio, it
is sure hard to find!

 

[Gord Dibben]

This has been a problem for a while.

Started with Excel 2003

Check this out................

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=833258

The fill color, the fill pattern, or the line color of a WordArt or
AutoShape object in an Office document does not change

As directed, change the High Contrast setting in Windows OS


Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP

 

[excel-helper]

Shane Devenshire wrote on 05/06/2008 18:31 :

Hi Philippeam,

I am not clear on what you mean by "High Contrast", however, if you
are
applying colors form the 2007 color palette to a Excel 2003 file you will
loose the new capabilities when you are in 2003. Very simply put Excel 2003
supports 56 colors in the spreadsheet at one time while 2007 support 16
Million (I've heard different numbers on this.) When you apply colors from
Excel 2007 palette and save the file as a 2003 file Excel must convert the
colors to the 56 color palette, so there is a great lose of capability.

I get a warning when I save the 2003 file from within 2007. To turn this
option on choose Office Button, Prepare, Run Compatibility Checker, and
chick the box at the bottom left that says Check compatibility when saving
this workbook.

Cheers,
Shane Devenshire
Microsoft Excel MVP

"Philippeam" wrote in
message

Excel 2007 workbooks contain a previous version 56 color palette that can b
modified so users of previous versions see the same colors when opening you
files.

In Excel 2007 go to Office Button > Excel Options > Save (option in lef
sidebar) > Colors… button. This is the default 56 color palette that you
colors are converted to for users of previous versions. This palette can b
modified to use the new 2007 theme colors.

The tool at the following link automates the entire process and allows you t
update previous version palettes on multiple workbooks. And it's fairly simpl
to use.

http://excelcampus.com/tools/excels-color-palette-compatibility-solution

Hope this helps,
Jon